LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Nov. 27

We have 9,473 reasons why the Clarkston Independence Township library tax increase failed and why the library district agreement should be dissolved today. The 9,473 voters didn't support this tax hike. Those 9,473 voter's will be disappointed when they hear that their "no" vote did nothing more then put the very same proposal on the August 2014 primary election.

Here's the dirty details that the Clarkston Independence Township Library Board president neglected to tell you when the August 2014 election date was announced.

The "automatic termination" clause of the district library agreement gave the library board until Aug. 10, 2014, to get this tax hike passed. Three years since it's inception to get a tax hike passed? Unbelievable! Why was the August 2014 date picked as the cut off date for passage of this tax hike proposal? Aug. 10, 2014, is the week ending date of the August 2014 primary.

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The pieces are now falling into place. Instead of respecting your "no" vote, you were set up for another election. This agreement was purposefully set up for at least two attempts at passage if the first was attempt were to fail. Of course, the same terms didn't apply if the tax increase proposal succeeded.

The library board president announced a week after the election that this tax hike will be on the August 2014 ballot, proving that the agreements termination date was drawn up knowing that you would have to vote twice if it failed.

It's no wonder there was no urgency to educate the public. Supporters knew that the failure of this proposal virtually guaranteed them another attempt. Not only is this sneaky, it's dishonest to voters. The claims that some voters may have mistakenly voted is not a legitimate reason to re-visit any election. We could never know whether a voter disliked the outcome and is lying about voting improperly.

We believe that it's indefensible for the township to have set-up voters for two elections before a single vote was cast in this election. It's unethical and wrong!

We hope that the new township board works to correct this type of dirty politics. Let both boards know how you feel about an agreement that favors the will of the government over the will of the people. The people have spoken, they said "no," not "no, try again!"